Ken Borland

GQEBERHA, Eastern Cape – If being a professional on the Sunshine Tour since last year has taught Siyanda Mwandla anything, it has apprised him of the fact that he needs to be enjoying himself more while he is trying to make a living playing golf.

Mwandla, who was one of the most exciting amateurs in the country during his days at the Ernie Els Fancourt Foundation, won his tour card last year and finished 137th on the order of merit after playing 10 events.

This year he has built on that experience and is sitting 107^th, having played a dozen tournaments. The last of those, the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series Mount Edgecombe leg, saw the 27-year-old post his best-ever round on tour, a 67 that saw him lying second after the first day. A par of 73s to close saw Mwandla finish in a tie for 38^th, but it is all part of the learning experience.

This week’s Vodacom Origins of Golf Series event at Humewood is another opportunity to take a step forward in his career, with his game definitely trending upwards.

“The way I approach tournaments this year has been the difference. In the past, if I played with friends on a Saturday or on my own, I was happy and excited, but then I would be playing in the Sunshine Tour on the Wednesday and I would be anxious. It felt like two different rounds when it should be the same. I didn’t understand that I was meant to be having fun on the course whatever I was playing.

“I’ve been working with a sports psychologist and no tournament should be bigger in terms of mindset. I need to stay in the moment, in the present, and not get too far ahead of myself. So nowadays I don’t ask for much, I just want to play the final round and make cuts consistently, so I don’t have to think about that,” Mwandla said on Wednesday at Humewood as rain forced him to take a break from preparations for the fourth leg of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series.

His Mount Edgecombe performance was a sign for Mwandla that the swing changes he put in place with coach Emile Steinmann are starting to bed in and he is not expecting any drama around the Humewood links this week, even if the weather, already windy and wet, continues to worsen.

“The swing changes were not all that comfortable at first but we are trying to get more consistency. I stuck with it and two weeks ago I saw some results. I like the Humewood course and I’ve had some nice amateur finishes here. You’ve got to have a bit of luck with the draw because you can be playing 12 holes with no wind and then for the last six you’re suddenly playing into the wind.

“You have to play a lot of knock-down shots here and sometimes you even feel like there’s a wind blowing when it’s not. It’s a thinking course from Hole One and although I’ve been working on getting my ball-flight higher since I moved to Johannesburg, growing up on the KZN North Coast means I subconsciously still have the low shots, I don’t have to even think about it. So I’m very comfortable here,” Mwandla said.

GQEBERHA, Eastern Cape – Vodacom’s 17-year title sponsorship of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series makes them one of the Sunshine Tour’s most loyal partners, giving South African professionals playing opportunities through the winter, but the telecommunications company has always also been focused on the higher calling of helping develop people in general and supporting charitable initiatives in the communities they visit.

This week the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series is in Gqeberha for the two-day Pro-Am and then the professional tournament at Humewood Golf Club, and Tshego Malinga, the executive head of department for the Customer Business Unit Eastern Region, is focused on making sure the event touches many peoples’ lives.

“We have the ability to make sure profit meets purpose and I am a firm believer that the two are never mutually exclusive. At the centre of everything we do at Vodacom is the desire to enable our customers to live out their purpose. We do that by connecting them in an environment in which they can express their passions and aspirations.

“But it’s also important for Vodacom to be part of the development of South Africa as a whole, and sport plays a very important part in the development of the nation. We want to help people explore their talent and hopefully some of them can go on to become international icons. We also want to be helpful to the community and the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series has really assisted in the funding of many charities,” Malinga says.

This week’s Vodacom Origins of Golf Series Pro-Am at Humewood will be raising funds for the Maro Foundation, which was started in 2014 by Pamela Mabini.

A social and gender activist from Kwazakhele, Mabini used her corporate connections to distribute food, blankets, clothes, shoes and hygiene products to the homeless. Since then she has opened two facilities in Johannesburg for the rehoming of mentally handicapped, disabled or HIV-positive children who have been abandoned by their families,

“We have the ability to really help this NGO that is also helping in the fight against gender-based violence, so that’s our big focus for this tournament. We want to help those who have less access to things we might take for granted. We need a consciousness of the environment we operate in, we can’t just be focused on our share price.

“It is super special for us to be able to host this event and help the Maro Foundation in these times of Covid and all the hesitation around that. It’s a tricky balance making sure people are safe but also bringing them together. We really want the show to go on, so we can keep helping people. It’s an honour for Vodacom to be able to do that,” Malinga says.

Although not a golfer herself, Malinga is also acutely aware of the history of Humewood Golf Club, one of South Africa’s top courses and the host of many major tournaments.

“Vodacom, Humewood and the Eastern Cape are all very iconic brands, so this event is the amalgamation of very strong South African brands. We all have a responsibility to society and Humewood has a strong heritage in both Eastern Cape and Port Elizabeth society. It has credibility because of its heritage and this collection of brands people love makes it easier to galvanise them around their shared history and love for the province and city,” Malinga says.

The Pro-Am Dinner on the eve of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series has already raised R25 000 for the Maro Foundation, with the fundraising efforts continuing all week.

DURBAN, KwaZulu-Natal – Louis Albertse handled the pressure of chasing down his first Sunshine Tour title like a mentsch on Saturday as he won the third leg of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series at Mount Edgecombe Country Club Estate.

The 25-year-old began the final round with a share of the lead, and produced an impressive four-under-par 66 to finish on nine-under-par for the tournament and clinch victory by one stroke over CJ du Plessis (65).

But as well as Albertse played, a bogey on the par-four 16^th left him needing pars on the tricky last two holes of The Woods course, and negotiated the elevation changes and water bordering the 18^th green with aplomb.

“There are so many emotions, but it feels really good to have my first Sunshine Tour title. It’s never easy to win and the last nine holes when you’re going for your first win is particularly tough, but I tried hard to stay in the moment. The bogey on 16 was a bit unsettling, but I knew I was still 100% in it. I had been playing nicely the whole day and all I could do was give it my best.

“I’ve been in Category 9 since I started on tour and I’ve worked really hard to get out of it, I always felt I was good enough to win. Now there are lots of things to look forward to, getting into big events now without any worries. I saw a couple of scoreboards on the way in and I knew CJ was playing well, which was a good thing in a sense because I knew I had to keep pushing and not play defensively,” Albertse said after his wire-to-wire win, having shared the lead with veteran Brazilian Adilson da Silva after the first two rounds.

Albertse, who hails from Dundee in Northern KwaZulu-Natal, went out in two-under-par 33 and then made an ideal start to the back nine with a lengthy birdie putt on the 339-yard par-four 10^th hole.

“I made a few good par-saves at the beginning but unfortunately took a six on the second par-five. But I’ve been putting really well and the birdie on 10 was a massive bonus, that just makes sure you get into the right gear going into the downwind holes. I also made a really good save on 13 and then birdies on 14 and 15 [another long putt] kept the momentum going,” Albertse said.

Du Plessis’ five-under-par 65 started inauspiciously with a bogey at the first hole, but thereafter he did not drop a shot, collecting five birdies including four in five holes from the sixth. It is the Irene Country Club golfer’s fourth runners-up finish and he is yet to win a professional tournament.

Da Silva was one shot off the lead when he made the turn, but returned to the clubhouse in level-par to finish on six-under-par, two behind Du Plessis and in the tie for third with Riekus Nortje and Deon Germishuys.

Scores – https://sunshinetour.com/tournament-information/?tourn=VOWC&season=221S&report=tmentry~season=221S~alphaorder~#/profile

The Joburg Open will return to being a standalone co-sanctioned tournament with the European Tour and will be held in a biosecure commune at Randpark Golf Club from November 19-22, the Sunshine Tour and the City of Joburg announced on Tuesday.

The Joburg Open was founded in 2007 and had one of the larger fields on the European Tour schedule, but in 2018 it was ‘nicked’ by the South African Open, with the two tournaments amalgamating into a 240-man mega-event hosted by Randpark’s two courses – Firethorn and Bushwillow. But now the events have been split again, with the SA Open due to be played after the Joburg Open, with Sunshine Tour commissioner Thomas Abt confirming it would not be held in Johannesburg this summer.

“The Joburg Open will have a field of 156 professionals, split between the Sunshine Tour and 70 from the European Tour, with everyone in a biobubble; golfers, caddies and essential staff will all be put in various local hotels and once in the bubble they cannot leave. They will have breakfast, lunch and dinner within the bubble. And they will be tested.

“They will be allowed to practise outside the bubble and there will be a pro-am, but all participants will need a negative Covid test before playing. There will be no spectators at the Joburg Open, but there will be a VIP facility in the Randpark clubhouse, which will be outside the bubble. These are some of the extensive safety measures in place, which includes isolation centres,” Abt said at Randpark on Tuesday.

The Joburg Open will be held the week after the Masters, but Abt is still hopeful that they will be able to get a top-class field for the co-sanctioned event.

“It’s impossible to know now what sort of regulations will be in place at the time of hosting the event, and we don’t have confirmation yet of which overseas players will be coming, but the European Tour have to fill those 70 spots and we have sent out a letter to our international golfing superstars requesting their support. There are no quarantine regulations in place, if a player has a Covid business visa and a negative test then he can arrive on the Monday and be in the tournament,” Abt said.

Hosting such an ambitious, massive event in this time of pandemic-induced change will put the tournament under the glare of public scrutiny, but City of Joburg executive mayor Geoffrey Makhubo stressed the benefits of putting on the tournament, which has prizemoney of R19.5 million, R2 million more than the SA Open held in January at the same venue.

“By separating this event from the SA Open, we will be able to promote the City of Joburg and mark our readiness to be open for tourism and business. Plus there are the potential new jobs the tournament will create. We recognise that Covid-19 is still a threat, but hosting the Joburg Open is an excellent opportunity to start returning to life as normal and golf has the green light from government.

“We want to save lives as well as livelihoods and the importance of golf to the tourism industry cannot be overstated. The tournament will also be staged in honour of struggle stalwart Andrew Mlangeni, who played in various Joburg Open pro-ams and attended as a guest several times. It is the first tournament we will host since he passed on,” Makhubo said.